I read in The Tribune the other day that Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. John Curtis are co-sponsoring the Emery County Public Land Management Act of 2018, which involves a lot of the San Rafael Swell. From what it said in the paper, it probably addresses a lot of issues that need to be addressed.
I do have a concern about what the paper said, that the bill, “proposes moving 436,643 acres of wilderness study areas in Emery County into permanent wilderness areas and expanding them to 577,986 acres.”
There is definitely a need to finalize a lot of the wilderness study areas that were designated many years ago. But when a piece of land is declared “wilderness,” all motor vehicles are no longer allowed, which also means a lot of camping places are no longer available to the public and, in some cases, people with disabilities or old age are not able to visit the area. My concern is that some of the land that was designated “wilderness study” should not be finalized as “wilderness.”
My family and friends have camped in the San Rafael Reef public lands area for about 30 years, mostly in a Temple Mountain wash a few miles north of Goblin Valley. It is a popular spot for campers who like to camp in open areas. When I was introduced to that area, we camped with a large group in a little bowl up the wash. There was and still is a graded road up that wash, initially leading to a uranium mine at the top of the wash. Our camp site was on the east side of the road, in that bowl.
Several years later, when we arrived at our camp spot on the east side, where we and others had camped for many years, we found that it had been designated “wilderness study — no motor vehicles or camping.” We also noticed that a little wash just south of our bowl, where there was a less traveled road, had also been closed to motor vehicles and camping because it was now a “wilderness study” area. We wondered how that could happen when both areas had passable roads, and had been used by campers for many years.
Fortunately, the west side of our little bowl hadn’t been closed off, so we were still able to often camp there, which has been more difficult in recent years, as the campers have increased.
I know that lands are declared wilderness to protect them from destruction or development, and I agree that we need to do that in many cases. But I wished then, and wish now, that there could be another kind of designation of public lands that would prevent them from being privatized and taken away from public use, as can presently be done with public lands; but would at the same time keep them available for public use, not able to be made into camp-for-fee areas, not able to be made into wilderness designation which prevents motor vehicles or camping, not able to be made into a national or state park.
So I hope that the final bill doesn’t automatically turn all of the designated wilderness study areas into “wilderness,” but instead returns some of those study areas (especially our old camp spot) back to be regular public lands with normal guidelines for use, such as when ATVs can be used, etc.
Fred Ash, Sandy, is the legislative chair of the Utah Retired School Employees Association.